Glutamate and Anoxic Neuronal Death in Vitro

Abstract

Identifying the factors responsible for the exquisite sensitivity of the brain to anoxia and ischemia has been very difficult with currently available preparations. During the past three years, our laboratory has utilized two fairly well characterized in vitro preparations to study the effects of anoxia on central mammalian neurons. The experiments described below, which employed cultures of dissociated hippocampal neurons and slices of rat hippocampus, implicate the synaptic release of glutamate (Glu) in the pathophysiology of anoxic neuronal death.